Garden writer Clare Foster and photographer Andrew Montgomery join us to share the ground-breaking gardens revealed in their new book 'Pastoral Gardens'.
The pastoral garden is an intriguing contradiction. The word conjures up a rural idyll, with Hardyesque visions of a wild, untainted landscape – an idea that goes against the manicured expectation of formal or ‘designed’ green spaces.
But our warming climate is propelling a monumental change in how we garden. Around the globe, garden-makers are responding to this new reality by creating spaces that are inspired by the untamed landscapes around us, building back habitats and increasing the biodiversity that has been lost.
To celebrate the launch of their new book Pastoral Gardens, Clare Foster and Andrew Montgomery will discuss how we as humans can harness nature in our own gardens, and will explore some of the gardens in their book which embrace this bucolic ideal.
The book takes the reader into private, public and personal gardens designed by leading landscape designers including Sarah Price, Dan Pearson, Emily Erlam, Tom Massey and Luciano Giubbilei, from Dorset to Tangier. These gardens respond directly to the beauty of our natural habitats, with wildflower meadows and grazing cattle integrated into holistic spaces where the boundaries between a conventional garden and the wider landscape disappear.
The essence of each garden is captured in over 250 photographs by Andrew Montgomery with illuminating texts by Clare Foster exploring the history, design and planting of each garden. Four additional essays by Jinny Blom, Nigel Dunnett, Kim Wilkie and Tom Stuart-Smith consider the changing nature of garden design as the climate changes around us.
Why not stay for dinner in the award-winning Garden Café? Book a table
Speaker Bios
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Clare Foster
Clare Foster
Clare Foster is Garden Editor at House & Garden magazine and a freelance garden journalist. She is the author of five books, including this book’s sister title, Winter Gardens. She is developing her own website, budtoseed.co.uk, and writes a popular garden journal on Substack.
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Andrew Montgomery
Andrew Montgomery
Andrew Montgomery has been a photographer all his life, specialising in lifestyle and narrative photography for magazines and books. His first book commission was Jasper Conran’s Country, and more than 20 titles followed, covering food, travel and gardens. Andrew launched his own publishing company, Montgomery Press, in 2021.
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Rachel de Thame
Rachel de Thame
Rachel de Thame is a horticulturalist, broadcaster, designer and writer. A familiar face on our screens since 1999, Rachel is perhaps best known for presenting on BBC's flagship series Gardeners' World and the hugely popular series Countrywise for ITV1. Rachel's passion for plants and gardens emerged in early childhood and is now the cornerstone of a varied career.
